...yes, OK, thanks. Do you know anyone that uses them? I never heard of them until I learned Verizon is no longer offering free basic flip phones and I started searching for a new provider. I'm about to switch to Consumer Cellular unless I can find some good reviews for Pure TalkUSA. It almost looks too good to be true and you know what that often means...

Thanks for taking the time to educate yourself on wireless providers and Pure TalkUSA. We pride ourselves in offering a variety of flexible cellular plans to accomodate any budget and usage needs; we utilize the nation's largest, most reliable GSM network. Our basic plan starts at $10/month; our unique Flex Plan allows you to set a budget each month and never incur additional charges or fees; our family line lets you add users to your account for $5/line; our Unlimited Talk & Text gives you all the talk/text you desire for $37.95; the Unlimited Plus+ plan gives you unlimited talk/text and 600MB of data with 600MMS for $43.95. In addition, we offer a wide variety of handsets at many different price points and also offer a SIM card for use with any unlocked GSM handset.

For reviews of our service and more information in general on our company, please visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/puretalkusa. If you have any questions about our service, email us at info@puretalkusa.com.

Thanks for your response, but I was looking for something more than a sales pitch. I cannot find any independent source reviewing your service and that makes me very hesitant. If you can refer me to any such reviews, I'd be happy to read...

If you find reviews and you talk with folk you find that reviews rarely matter unless the reviewer is just like you. That is, lives in your neighborhood and visits the same places. Service can drop out in the oddest places such as your home but not mine. For some this matters.

That's why you try it out fast and if the service is not where you are, you take it back.Bob

...that's pretty bad advice. Consumers should do their homework before buying. Also, I'm not talking about reviews from some unknown source. I'm talking about published reviews by credible sources, like CNET or Consumer Reports. If you do a search for Consumer Cellular, you will find reviews. However, I cannot find any for PureTalk. I just want to know if they are legitimate (i.e. major carrier) or some fly-by-night outfit looking to make a quick buck...

My experience with that is with any of the companies. It is abysmal. Not one bug has a fix. So for me that's a failure. Your average fan will gloss over this and be forgiving but let's just be honest. There is no way any of these companies can correct that.

It's the native footprint only (a la GoPhone coverage) AFAIK. You likely will not find much of anything regarding their CS and/or business since they don't serve many people like the parent carriers of MVNOs do with their post-paid customers. Most of what I found is here:

I would argue that Consumer Reports is one of the worst places since it mostly gives MACRO data and not MICRO, like a real time forum such as howardforums.com, for example. I would send someone there to take a peek in the pre-paid subforum for reviews/comments on PureTalkUSA.

Bob's advice is spot on, to suggest finding a real user in the same neck of the woods if possible. For example, I could care less what a Manhattan based visitor says about wireless during a weekend stay in downtown Chicago. Feedback from locals over a longer period of time is more helpful.

If you scroll through posts on our Facebook page, you can find some posts where people describe their experience with our service. You are also welcome to post the question to see what sort of feedback you can receive from other customers on our Facebook page. In addition, you can find some different review results on Google, including some blogs that are not associated with our company in which people describe their PTUSA experience.

I would also encourage you to do as another user suggested...order a SIM if you have a compatible phone, and see for yourself how the service works in your area. If you aren't happy with it, you can cancel your service or return it for a refund.

Only Tara didn't mention the new plan at $34.99 per month. Unlimited, talk, text, approx 1100 emails and can't recall number of Internet hours. They are the real deal. With WiFi, using Line or Tango, you also get free International or domestic services.

I'm a retired corporate executive who was a customer with AT&T for over 15 years and finally got fed up with poor service, support, and lack of interest to keep their loyal customers. I researched and found puretalkusa about 18 months ago, use an iPhone 4S, started back then with a 3GS and when I made the switch I couldn't believe how much better the coverage and quality of service is. Puretalkusa leases bandwidth from AT&T, has fewer subscribers so with less congestion the difference is noticeable immediately. Their online support staff are first rate, helpful, courteous, and followup to assure satisfaction. I could not be happier and I have referred several of my friends to them as well. I HIGHLY recommend!

Glad to hear you are happy with them, but understand, PTusa uses only the (limited) ATT GoPhone coverage area, hence it cannot be better. Certain cell sites will simply not register for you using a PTUSa sim card. IOW, there's no roaming w/ PTusa. For some of us, that's the deal breaker unfortunately.

While it appears to be the case, I don't see any of the partner coverage on their maps. It's in the map legend, but none shows up on the map. There are places in WI (for example) that I know only have roaming/partner coverage, but PTUSa doesn't show it. My guess is, they can only offer limited roaming agreements and not what I get w/ post-paid ATT.

Hello, HiDefSteve. I am sorry to be a few months late with an answer, but I just saw your post. I never heard of PURETALK before I signed up either. Just wanted an inexpensive way to go because I do not use my flip phone that much. Ten dollars a month is great. I have never been cut off from a call, the calls are very clear. Before you reach the end of your minutes, you will get a voice on your phone as you are about to dial, telling you how much you have left in minutes. I have the $10 a month plan which is deducted from my debit card. You can add more minutes by going onto their site, and clicking for more. I also love the fact that whatever minutes you have from one month to the next roll over and you never lose them. Their website has all your info and the calls you made and how long you spoke. For such an inexpensive charge each month, you get a lot. You can increase or decrease your plan depending on how much you want to pay and how many minutes you need. I believe the increments are $10.

I recommend PureTalk highly, and their customer reps are very courteous and patient. Check it out! Gloria

I've used PuretalkUSA on an iphone 4s for over a year and it is very good. The call quality is good and I've never had a call drop. I only have the $20max plan.Last month I set up another iphone 3G on PureTalk. They sent the sim and I put it in and had the service up and running in a few minutes. No jail break or any of that. This only works if you have a GSM phone, but it works well. I recommend the service as far as the talk and text, but I don't have the data, so can't discuss that aspect of the service. There is no free nights and weekends or any of that. You get 130 min for $10 and if you go over by one min you get bumped up to the $20 for that month, but if you don't use all your minutes they roll to the next month. I use talkatone with Google Voice, which I learned about on the PureTalk website, to save minutes when I'm within wifi range, and that works well, too.

I have had this service for a month or so and it is great as to signal strength and small fee. But have one problem and it probably isn't them, but I can't understand it.I was with Consumer Cellular and I live in the boonies and the signal was very poor and if I lowered the monthly cost to their $10 plus tax and fees figure, it came with no minutes. If you used a minute it was like 23 cents.Pure talk uses the AT&T towers in my area and the low fee is $10 a month for 130 roll over minutes.I got their sim card to put in my Huawei U8652 GSM cell phone and it says it is locked. Consumer Cellular said it was my phone and was unlocked. That they never lock the phone you purchase from them --- It's yours!. I paid $100 for it. Pure Talk says compatible phones must be GSM and an unlocked AT&T or another kind I forgot the name of it would work with theirs. AT&T uses the Huawei U8652 as a prepaid phone with their service.Pure Talk did furnish me a little flip top Samsung free that is marked AT&T and it works like a charm. The reception is fantastic but all my contacts are in my Huawei. I have WiFi at home and can use the Huawei features there or in free zones. Every month I take the sim card out of the Samsung and put it in the Huawei and power it up but it is still says it needs to be unlocked. Consumer Cellular said if that happened I could use 6 zeros for the code. Doesn't work. Would love to hear any ideas on how to get it to link up with Pure Talk. The little Samsung they sent me for free is great for hiking the neighborhood and dog walking, but would love to get to my contacts and weather reports and apps in my Huawei.I strongly recommend the Pure Talk. Greatest talks I have ever had on a cell phone, but sure would like to hear the same on my Huawei.

I copied this from PureTalk FAQ:Effective July 10th, 2012, all GSM phone and service providers will be required to report stolen GSM handsets to a database. Any phone on this Stolen/Block list will NOT be able to be used with our Pure TalkUSA service or any other service provider. The creation of this database has been mandated by the FCC in an effort to limit the value of stolen handsets and prevent them from being reused.

Hello Seacow8, I don't know if you're still interested, but I used to work at consumer cellular. A little back ground knowledge is if you call into them and want to have one of the phones made available for other gsm networks, its best to go through about 5 minutes of troubleshooting with a normal rep to see if the knowledge base has anything new, if that doesn't work ask to speak with a supervisor. They have access to something called Telligence which is the network at uses and where all of the subsidiary info is. This is where a technical unlock comes from.

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